{"id":92982,"date":"2026-01-21T22:40:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T22:40:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/92982\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T22:40:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T22:40:07","slug":"some-airlines-are-dropping-change-fees-ahead-of-the-incoming-winter-storm-heres-what-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/92982\/","title":{"rendered":"Some airlines are dropping change fees ahead of the incoming winter storm. Here’s what to know."},"content":{"rendered":"

Ahead of this weekend’s forecasted winter storm<\/a>, many airlines are already dropping change fees so travelers can rebook their flights.<\/p>\n

Travelers flying in or out of impacted airports, as specified by the airline, may have change fees or fare differences waived. Check with the individual airline for details:<\/p>\n

What if your flight is delayed or canceled?<\/p>\n

Under federal law, airlines must refund you if your flight is canceled and you opt not to rebook. That’s regardless of the reason for the cancellation,\u00a0according to the U.S. Department of Transportation<\/a>, and includes non-refundable tickets.<\/p>\n

The refund must be issued automatically to the original form of payment, not a voucher. Any refund should also include add-ons, according to\u00a0ThePointsGuy.com<\/a>\u00a0managing editor Clint Henderson.<\/p>\n

“You are entitled to a full refund,” Henderson said. “That includes extras, like extra leg room, WiFi, anything that you’ve pre-purchased should also come back into your account.”<\/p>\n

But beyond that, airlines don’t owe you anything else, under federal law, if the cancellation or delay is out of their control \u2014 like a winter storm. Still, Henderson says it doesn’t hurt to ask. Even if they say no, it doesn’t mean you’re totally out of options.<\/p>\n

“If you book the trip with a credit card that offers trip delay and cancellation protections, a lot of times, those insurance policies will kick in, and you don’t have to buy extra insurance,” he said. “This comes as part of the benefits package with a lot of the higher-end credit cards, so that’s why I always tell people to book with a credit card that offers these protections.”<\/p>\n

For delays or cancellations within the airlines’ control, like maintenance issues, each carrier has different policies for meal vouchers and hotel reimbursements. You can use the\u00a0Department of Transportation’s airline customer service dashboard<\/a>\u00a0to see what the 10 largest U.S. airlines promise.<\/p>\n

If you find yourself trying to rebook, Henderson said, don’t just count on getting in line behind everyone else at the counter. He also recommends having a verified phone number for the airline ready and the airline’s app on your phone.<\/p>\n

Looking for help with a consumer issue?\u00a0Click here<\/a>\u00a0to submit your complaint to In Your Corner.<\/p>\n

\n More from CBS News\n <\/p>\n

In:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ahead of this weekend’s forecasted winter storm, many airlines are already dropping change fees so travelers can rebook…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":92983,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[35266,28358,69,71,70,4491,913],"class_list":["post-92982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-flight-cancellations","tag-flight-delays","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-travel","tag-weather-forecast"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92982\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}